How Members Can Keep Facebook Safe

Another way in which you contribute to keeping Facebook a safe, clean place is in the reports that you submit about spam, harassment, inappropriate content, and fake Timelines. Almost every piece of content on Facebook can be reported. Sometimes you may need to click an Options link to find the report link.

The various reporting options that you see may vary, depending on what you’re reporting (a group as opposed to a photo, for example). These reports are submitted to the Facebook User Operations team. The team then investigates and takes down inappropriate photos, disables fake accounts, and generally strives to keep Facebook clean, safe, and inoffensive.

When you see content that you don’t like — for example, an offensive group name or a vulgar Timeline — don’t hesitate to report it. With the entire Facebook population working to keep Facebook free of badness, you wind up with a pretty awesome community.

After you report something, Facebook’s User Operations team evaluates it in terms of violating Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. This means that pornography gets taken down, fake Timelines are disabled, and people who send spam may receive a warning or even have their account disabled.

However, sometimes something that you report may be offensive to you but doesn’t violate the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and, therefore, will remain on Facebook. Due to privacy restrictions, User Operations may not always notify you about actions taken as a result of your support, but rest assured that the team handles every report.